As illustrated by way of example in FIGS. 1 and 2, practically all manual transmission vehicles (in particular mustangs) have a conventional shifter principle which although may vary in actual specific design pretty much all work identical. The transmission in a car has a linkage that moves the gears inside the transmission in order to operate the vehicle in both forward and reverse. Some cars have 3 speeds. Some have 4, 5 or even 6 forward gears. Regardless the function is the same. The linkage inside the transmission needs to be manipulated by the driver while seated in the drivers seat. To achieve this a commonly referred to as a “shifter” is bolted inside the car, which on top has a shift “knob” that the driver grabs to change gears and on bottom has a small ball socket that inserts into the transmission itself. This “shifter” is the only way that the driver can actually place the car in the proper gear to move forward or reverse. All known shifters generally use a pivot ball that basically works much like a seesaw. As the driver pulls back on the shift “knob” the center shaft pivots on a ball which in turn makes the small ball socket pivot in the opposite direction inside the transmission thus “selecting a gear”. The distance between the fulcrum or pivot ball, and the small ball socket determines what is known as the “throw” of the shifter.
Stock shifters and all known aftermarket shifters generally have a solid one piece center shaft that goes all the way down inside the car into the transmission. Unfortunately, this allows virtually all noise and vibration originating from the transmission (which is known to have a great deal of vibration ) to transfer up and thru the shifter center shaft into the shift knob handle, and thereby into the driver's hand. Known factory, or OEM, units utilize a relatively thick rubber gasket on the shift handle as an attempt to muffle this noise. This works adequately, yet such approaches are known to cause the shift handle to flex significantly, and feel very “loose” or “mushy” to the driver when shifting gears. Hence, known aftermarket shifters eliminate this rubber gasket to stiffen the feel of the shift handle but this consequentially removes any noise insulation from the transmission and therefore causes the shifter to buzz and vibrate, often to unacceptable levels.
Known stock shifters feature have a bent shift handle that is bent to attempt to move the shift knob position back to the driver for better ergonomics. All other aftermarket shifters use a very similar handle, which may have different bends or heights but basically do the same thing. However, they do not give any adjustments left or right, which can limit the ergonomics for each type of driver. Every person has unique height, weight, arm length, leg length etc. A shifter that is not capable of adjusting left to right or front to back is usually not able to please every driver. FIG. 1 illustrates handles of a prior-art stock shifter and a popular aftermarket handle. Those skilled in the art will recognize such approaches clearly lack any adjustable positioning. The handle bolts to its shifter in only one place, unlike the handle of the present invention.
The present inventor has designed and brought to market a prior approach, which was comprised of an adjustable handle that used a 12 mm bolt inside an aluminum housing that attached to the shift shaft. This handle offered some adjustability because the design bent the bolt about 15 degrees. When rotating the bolt it would pivot over to the driver. One significant problem with this prior design was that customers still complained because the shift knob also rotated or “leaned” left or back, which made it uncomfortable when shifting gears. This prior approach, which was designed and marketed by the present applicant, has since product introduction been widely copied by competitors, but none have improved on its design in any significant manner. The present applicant regards our prior design as inferior at least for the foregoing reasons and realized there was a need for an improved solution to this shifting handle problem.
Unless otherwise indicated illustrations in the figures are not necessarily drawn to scale.